The Phoenix of Gaza
A remarkable film, the winner of numerous awards at film festivals, including the London Independent Film Awards and the Edinburgh Film Awards, will soon be screened in Hastings.
‘The Phoenix of Gaza’ is directed by Yousef Al-Helou, a London-based Palestinian journalist and filmmaker. Yousef, originally from Gaza, studied journalism at Oxford University. He spent a decade away from the Strip before returning in the summer of 2023 to make a documentary about the place of his birth, intending to show the reality of Gaza beyond the usual depiction of the place as merely a backdrop to conflict and spotlight the area’s beauty, which had somehow survived cycles of violence and a suffocating siege imposed by Israel since 2007.
His intention was to make a documentary film, which would reveal the hidden beauties, joys, and treasures of Gaza. Yousef created extensive reportage of Gaza’s historic buildings, recreational spaces, and beach life; of its olive and fruit groves, and its museums, mosques, churches, restaurants, and shopping malls, as well as capturing rare aerial footage.
‘I want to show the world the positive, bright side of Gaza, the vibrancy, colours, the lovely, nice atmosphere. Who the Palestinians are, how they lived, and how they managed to beautify and decorate their big concentration prison camp.:
The footage of Gaza which Yousef lovingly filmed, soon became a monument to a place transformed forever by a devastating war, beginning after his trip was over. According to an analysis of satellite imagery carried out by the UN, as of 11 October 2025, around 81% of all structures in the Gaza Strip were damaged. Mosques, churches, hospitals, university buildings, schools and cemeteries have all been damaged or destroyed. “We are disassembling Gaza, and leaving it as piles of rubble, with total destruction,” Israeli finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich explained a year ago.
Far from feeling hopeless when confronted by what organisations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have described as a genocide, one that has claimed the life of his sister and all seven of her children, Yousef remains positive about the ability of Palestinians to endure, describing Gaza as a “resilient city that beat all odds… always in a state of rebirth, always rising from the ashes.”
He describes ‘The Phoenix of Gaza’ as “my love letter to the city of my birth. People get astonished when they see the beauty of Gaza and how it was before its destruction. This film is a living memory archive. But the Phoenix will rise, and we Palestinians will never vanish. Our existence is resistance.”
Yousef is currently on a nationwide and international tour to show ‘The Phoenix of Gaza’. He hopes Channel 4 will screen his unique documentary. “No one will be able to film what I had captured”, he says.
The event is organised by Hastings and District Palestine Solidarity Campaign. The film screening will be followed by a Q & A with the director. The screening will take place at the Stade Hall, Hastings Old Town, on Sunday, 17th of May, at 3pm.
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